Agence exécutive pour l'innovation et les réseaux /Uitvoerend Agentschap innovatie en netwerken, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Innovation and Networks Executive Agency

CALL FOR PROPOSALS CONCERNING PROJECTS OF COMMON INTEREST UNDER THE

CONNECTING EUROPE FACILITY IN THE FIELD OF

TRANS-EUROPEAN TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORKS

CEF TELECOM CALLS 2019

CEF-TC-2019-2: European Platform for Digital Skills and Jobs

1. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

Following the Skills Agenda1 adopted in June 2016, the European Commission launched

the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition to develop a large digital talent pool and ensure that

individuals and the labour force in Europe are equipped with adequate digital skills. It

supports cooperation among education, employment, and industry stakeholders with the

goal of improving the digital skills of the wider population, not just IT professionals.

The context of this call for proposals (call) is defined in section 3.17 of the 2019

Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom Work Programme2 as published on the call

page on the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) website.3 Its

background and rationale are defined in section 3.17.1 of the 2019 – 2020 Work

Programme.

2. PRIORITIES & OBJECTIVES

2.1 Priority outcomes

The priority outcomes of this call for proposals are defined in section 3.17.2.2 of the

2019 – 2020 Work Programme.

The call aims to support the development of generic services4 at national level. It will

finance the connection of the infrastructures (websites) of National Digital Skills and

Jobs Coalitions (hereafter referred to as National Coalitions) with the Core Service

Platform through interoperable links, integrating and enabling exchanges with the Core

Service Platform components. It will help National Coalitions and other stakeholders to

provide coherent and structured content and services on digital skills in the official

1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52016DC0381 2 Commission Implementing Decision C(2019)1021 final of 14 February 2019 on establishing a Multi-Annual Work

Programme 2019 and 2020 for financial assistance in the field of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)

Telecommunications sector, amended by Commission Implementing Decision C(2019)2782 final of 16 April 2019. 3 https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-telecom/apply-funding/2019-digital-skills-jobs 4 Generic services link national infrastructures to the Core Service Platform (central hubs which enable trans-European

connectivity), as defined in the CEF Telecom 2019 – 2020 Work Programme.

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language(s) of the Member State where the coalitions/networks of actors are based, or

Norwegian/Icelandic as appropriate, hereafter referred to as official language(s).

Generic services provided through the National Coalitions/networks of actors’

infrastructures in combination with the Core Service Platform will make digital skills

initiatives from all over Europe more accessible. These services will highlight good

practices and financing opportunities, gather information about digital skills intelligence

and careers. They will help students and job seekers to find training/traineeship

opportunities, support enterprises in addressing skills needs, train employees, facilitate

scale-up of innovative training solutions, strengthen cooperation between the National

Coalitions/networks of actors, and enable learning across sectors and borders.

Particular attention will be paid to reskilling and upskilling of the labour force at all

levels, in the area of basic and advanced user digital skills and ICT specialist skills5.

This Digital Service Infrastructure (DSI) will be built in two phases:

1. The first phase that started in 2019 focuses on the development of a Core Service

Platform (CSP) at European level as a single point-of-access to digital skills

content. It also defines the architecture for information sharing and

interoperability among the Core Service Platform and the national infrastructures

e.g. websites or portals of National Coalitions/networks of actors.

2. The second phase starts with this call for proposals for the generic services,

and focuses on development and interconnection of National Coalitions/networks

of actors’ infrastructures to the CSP and access to national/regional/local actors

and practices, building interoperable links to provide services relevant to the local

context. As a result, the National Coalitions/networks of actors acting on

reducing the digital skills gap at national level will be able to share their activities

and content from their country to the CSP and to other national

coalitions/networks of actors, and vice-versa. European and national resources on

digital skills will be easily searchable, accessible, available, and usable in official

language(s).

The technical specifications for the CSP and its services will be placed on the call

webpage: https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-telecom/apply-

funding/2019-digital-skills-jobs.

2.1.1 DSI generic services

The proposed actions supported by this call must cover all of the following three

activities:

Activity 1: Web development

Development or upgrade of one national website/database per participating Member

State.

5 OECD (2004), page 6): https://www.oecd.org/internet/ieconomy/34769393.pdf

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The national website, serving as a “web antenna (or link)” to the Core Service Platform,

will provide content and data on digital skills and jobs in a coherent and structured way

in the official language(s). Content must include interoperable links to the Core Service

Platform as well as other national web antennas.

Additional information on the technical standards to be followed is available in the

technical specifications6.

The national website will need to provide Application Programming Interface (API)

endpoints based on modalities defined by the Commission for certain data types

(described in the technical specifications document mentioned above), allowing

developers to interact with the site remotely by receiving JavaScript Object Notation

(JSON) objects and helping them read content from the national website. The API will

access the data of the national website and will enable communication and interactions

between the Core Service Platform and the national website. The national website will

also need to implement a fetching system from the Core Service Platform e.g. to present

funding opportunities.

Activity 2: Services, Content and Community related activities

Expected outputs to be delivered in official language(s) and published on the national

website:

2.1. Presentation of the National Coalition/network of actors and its members: An interoperable part based on the technical specification provided under activity

1, covering digital skills for the labour force, ICT professionals and other digital

experts, education, citizens.

2.2. Presentation of relevant parts of the Core Service Platform content: EU

initiatives in digital skills and jobs7, EU funding opportunities, news, events, etc.

In addition to the compulsory parts, National Coalitions/networks of actors can

choose to present additional relevant content from the Core Service Platform

according to their territorial needs and specificities.

2.3. Create and implement an interoperable repository of good practice(s), using

the API model (activity 1) and connected to the Core Service Platform

repository based on guidelines and a common, uniform approach. The proposed

action must select and promote good practices that address gaps and local

specificities. On the national website, this repository must display as a minimum

the following features:

A relevant number of good practices from the national/regional/local level,

including lessons learned, covering from basic to advanced digital skills (for

at least 3 of these, relevant material will also need to be uploaded in the

resources repository – see point 2.4 – with an in depth presentation).

6 Available on the call page: https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-telecom/apply-funding/2019-

digital-skills-jobs 7 The national websites/databases should inform about European initiatives e.g. Digital Europe programme (https://eur-

lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2018%3A434%3AFIN), Digital Opportunity Traineeship

(https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digital-opportunity-traineeships-boosting-digital-skills-job), Erasmus+

Sector Skills Alliances (https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/actions/key-action-2-cooperation-for-innovation-and-

exchange-good-practices/sector-skills_en), and Blueprints with focus on digital skills, Digital Competence Framework

(https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/digcomp/digital-competence-framework) , Artificial intelligence Action Plan

(https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/coordinated-plan-artificial-intelligence), Digital Skills Awards

(https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/winners-european-digital-skills-awards-2018), COSME initiatives

on Advanced Digital Skills for Industry and SMEs (https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/cosme_en), etc.

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At least 8 additional good practices chosen from the Core Service Platform

and/or other national coalitions/networks of actors websites. The selection

should cover from basic to advanced digital skills.

Priority should be given to good practices for reskilling and upskilling the

labour force and to training in the field of artificial intelligence,

cybersecurity, high performance computing, and blockchain.

2.4. Create and implement an interoperable repository of resources on digital

skills, with an area for self-assessment tools for digital competencies and

specific sections making available national and regional strategies and measures,

training curricula, non-proprietary MOOCs, details on methodologies, case

studies and other training material.

2.5. Present relevant and innovative training opportunities on advanced digital

skills currently available targeted at end users, using the API model. Presented

training opportunities should cover diverse settings (on-line, classroom, boot

camps, work-based) and diverse formats (part-time, full-time, short term),

offered by a wide range of providers (industry, formal education and training,

open learning) to ensure flexibility and relevance to users. The website should

allow stakeholders to submit for publication upcoming training opportunities on

digital skills via an online interface and the beneficiary(ies) should implement a

review procedure prior to publication. If such platforms/databases presenting

relevant training offers on digital skills already exist at national and or regional

level, the beneficiary(ies) should ensure visibility and links to those databases to

facilitate search of relevant training opportunities by end users and increase

overall transparency.

2.6. Present funding opportunities for digital skills at national and European

level, including for example relevant calls for proposals, loans for upskilling

(e.g. income sharing agreements) and other financial instruments.

2.7. Events: Each coalition/network of actors should regularly publish relevant

events in their online calendar, ensuring interoperability with Core Service

Platform system.

2.8. News production and skills intelligence: each National Coalition/network of

actors must allow Coalition/network members and stakeholders to

post/comment on/discuss news on various digital skills-related topics and

information/data on the skills most needed in the country. It should also

regularly publish news announcements.

2.9. Webinars/online events, peer-to-peer learning and exchange of experience. The

National Coalition/network of actors must organise and publish at least two

webinars to inform stakeholders in the country and other National

Coalition/networks of actors about digital skills development, approaches, and

good practices. The beneficiary(ies) must also contribute, through national

digital skills experts, to at least 8 webinars/workshops organised by the Core

Service Platform coordinator, to peer review the content of the Core Service

Platform and identify links with national content and stakeholders.

2.10. Communication, promotion and community management: The

beneficiary(ies) should ensure, in agreement with the Core Service Platform

owner, a common layout with recognisable features and sufficient promotion

and communication about the content published on the national website. This

will also encourage replicability and facilitate scaling of innovative solutions. In

particular, the beneficiary(ies) should disseminate press releases and use online

communication tools, such as newsletters and social media. It should also

support the members’ efforts to inform their audiences about the platform

services and content. It should encourage stakeholders to contribute actively to

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online activities on the Core Service Platform and make resources available

through the repository.

Activity 3: Post-editing and localisation of content

The National Coalitions/networks of actors must provide translation of content and post-

edit services from English to the official language(s) and vice versa, rendering content

relevant for the local context.

In particular, the national website must reuse the information on the Core Service

Platform by publishing it in their official language(s) (e.g. EU policy information, skills

intelligence, selected good practices, events, news, funding opportunities, content

relevant for national stakeholders and activities). Conversely, the National

Coalitions/networks of actors will review English translations of their content for the

Core Service Platform, which will disseminate information from the national websites

(e.g. good practices, funding/training opportunities, events, news).

The beneficiary(ies) will access services from the eTranslation CEF Building Block8.

They will need to review the texts translated into their official language(s) from the

machine translation system and post-edit them before publishing. Similarly, the

beneficiary(ies) will also review the automatic translation into English of content from

the national websites before publishing on the Core Service Platform.

2.1.2 General provisions

In the proposed Actions, the beneficiary(ies) is/are expected to:

a) Outline the methodology for the selection of good practices, training offers and

related resources (see points 2.3-2.4-2.5 above under activity 2) and explain how

this methodology ensures their high quality. The proposed Action should

demonstrate how the foreseen promotional activity (see point 2.9-2.10 above

under activity 2) takes into account dimensions like replicability and

visibility/accessibility for end users.

b) Encourage registration of all National Coalition/network of actors members to the

stakeholder engagement tool of the Core Service Platform, and support their

participation in related discussions and activities.

c) Ensure regular and frequent updates/exchanges of data between the Core Service

Platform and the national website.

d) Ensure appropriate compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation

(GDPR). When relevant and lawful, the beneficiary(ies) will comply with the

obligation to inform the individuals by sending privacy notices and by obtaining

consent. The notice regarding the information on the publication of personal data,

or the consent request, will need to refer not only to the publication on the

national antenna website, but also on any further publication of the same

information on the Core Service Platform and on all the other National

Coalitions/networks of actors’ websites connected to the platform, which might

republish the information in their national official languages.

e) Comply with European and/or national level cybersecurity rules as applicable.

8 The machine translation (MT) system eTranslation of the European Commission

(https://ec.europa.eu/cefdigital/wiki/display/CEFDIGITAL/eTranslation)

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f) Report on their activities to Core Service Platform coordinator on an annual basis.

g) By the end of the Action, the beneficiary(ies) must be in a position to demonstrate

convincingly that all three mandatory activities listed in point 2.1.1 have been

duly accomplished in accordance with required specifications.

2.2 Results expected from the financial assistance

The benefits and expected outcomes of this call for proposals are defined in section

3.17.2.3 of the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme.

The DSI will result in a network of interoperable National Digital Skills and Jobs

Coalition or equivalent actors’ websites and related databases linked to the EU-level

Core Service Platform, providing coherent and structured content and services on digital

skills in the official language(s) of the participating Member States.

The European Platform for Digital Skills and Jobs (Core Service Platform with the

generic services) will become a single point-of-access for digital skills development in

the Member States. It will foster a deeper understanding of digital skills needs in the EU

and support a coordinated response to the digital skills shortages and skills mismatches

challenging the development of the Digital Single Market. This DSI will also support

building the infrastructure and the community for the digital skills actions foreseen in the

next EU Multiannual Financial Framework, and notably in the Digital Europe

Programme.

3. TIMETABLE

Date of publication of call for proposals Friday 5 July 2019

Deadline for submission of proposals Thursday 14 November 2019 (17:00.00

Brussels time)

Evaluation of proposals December 2019 – February 2020

(indicative)

Consultation of the CEF Committee April 2020 (indicative)

Adoption of the Selection Decision May 2020 (indicative)

Preparation and signature of grant

agreements

Between May and August 2020 (indicative)

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects under this call for proposals

is estimated at €1 million.

Maximum one grant per Member State will be funded. For the form of grant and

maximum funding amount, please consult section 11.1 below.

The Commission reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.

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The Commission reserves the right to award a grant of less than the amount requested by

the applicant.

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

In order to be admissible, proposals must be:

Submitted no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in

section 3 on Timetable;

Submitted in writing (see section 14), using the application forms9 and electronic

submission system available at

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tentec/grant/esubmission10. In this respect, proposals

or part(s) of proposals submitted by e-mail or hard copy will not be admissible;

Complete, i.e. all parts of the application form (A, B, C or D) are complete and

uploaded in TENtec;

Duly signed by the applicant(s).

Failure to comply with any of these requirements will lead to the rejection of the

application.

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

6.1 Eligible applicants

In accordance with the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme and pursuant to Article 9 of the

CEF Regulation,11 only those proposals submitted by the following types of applicants

are eligible:

A Member State;

With the agreement of the Member State or EEA country concerned, international

organisations, Joint Undertakings,12 or public or private undertakings or bodies

established in the Member State or EEA country.

For proposals with a single applicant (no consortium), only proposals submitted by the

coordinator of a National Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition/network of actors will be

eligible under this call. For proposals with multiple applicants (a consortium), any

Coalition/network member may participate as a consortium member in any proposal that

includes its coordinator. For countries where a National Coalition does not exist, the

applying entity/entities must be members of an equivalent network of actors from

9 Application forms (A, B, C and D) provided on the call webpage or (for application form part A) generated by the

TENtec eSubmission module. 10 The TENtec eSubmission module is part of the TENtec Information System used to manage CEF actions during

their entire lifecycle and enables the electronic submission of proposals under the CEF calls. The link to TENtec is

available under the "Application Forms" section of the call webpage: https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-

europe-facility/cef-telecom/apply-funding/2019-digital-skills-jobs. 11 Regulation (EU) No 1316/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing the

Connecting Europe Facility, amending Regulation (EU) No 913/2010 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 680/2007

and (EC) No 67/2010 Text with EEA relevance, see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32013R1316

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industry, civil society, training providers, social partners, or public authorities, which are

acting to reduce the digital skills gap in the Member State/EEA country.

The fulfilment of these requirements will be ensured through the endorsement of the

relevant Ministry responsible for the approval of CEF Telecom proposals via the

application form part A.2.3 available in the electronic submission system. By signing the

A.2.3 form, the Ministry will give the assurance that each applicant is a member of the

National Coalition or equivalent network of actors of the Member State/EEA country

concerned. The signature of the Ministry will also certify that the Coalition or the

network of actors satisfies the definition of such groupings stated in section 17 below,

and that the coordinator of the National Coalition/network of actors is among the

applicants.

EEA countries

In accordance with section 5.3.1 of the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme, European Free

Trade Association (EFTA) countries which are members of the European Economic Area

(EEA) may participate13 in the call for proposals, even when not explicitly mentioned in

the Work Programme text, with the same rights, obligations and requirements as EU

Member States. At the time of call publication, these conditions apply to Norway and

Iceland only.

Applicants without legal personality

Proposals may be submitted by entities which do not have legal personality under the

applicable national law, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake

legal obligations on their behalf and offer a guarantee for the protection of the EU's

financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.

Natural persons Proposals submitted by natural persons are not eligible.

Affiliated entities

Applicants may designate affiliated entities within the meaning of Article 187 of the

Financial Regulation, for the purpose of supporting the implementation of the action

submitted for funding. Such affiliated entities must comply with the eligibility criteria for

applicants.

Member State agreement

Any applicant that cannot provide the agreement of the EU Member State or EEA

country concerned will not be eligible.

6.2 Eligible actions

In line with Article 7 of the CEF Regulation, only actions contributing to "projects of

common interest" as identified in the Telecom Guidelines14 shall be eligible for support

through EU financial aid in the form of grants.

13 According to article 7.2 of Regulation (EU) No 283/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11

March 2014 on guidelines for trans-European networks in the area of telecommunications infrastructures and

repealing Decision No 1336/97/EC. 14 Regulation (EU) No 283/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 on guidelines for

trans-European networks in the area of telecommunications infrastructure and repealing Decision No 1336/97/EC

(Text with EEA relevance) See specifically Article 4 and the Annex for more information. See http://eur-

lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32014R0283

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Please note that failure to comply with any of the eligibility criteria indicated above will

lead to the rejection of the application.

Implementation period

The Action may not start before the date of submission of the application.15

Indicative duration

The indicative duration of an Action proposed under this call is 3 years.

7 EXCLUSION CRITERIA

7.1 Exclusion

An applicant shall be excluded from participating in call for proposals procedures where:

(a) the applicant is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, where its

assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, where it is in an

arrangement with creditors, where its business activities are suspended, or where it

is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under

national laws or regulations;

(b) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that

the applicant is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social

security contributions in accordance with the applicable law;

(c) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that

the applicant is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated

applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the

applicant belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful intent or gross

negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:

(i) fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the

verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of

eligibility or selection criteria or in the performance of a contract, a grant

agreement or a grant decision;

(ii) entering into agreement with other applicants with the aim of distorting

competition;

(iii) violating intellectual property rights;

(iv) attempting to influence the decision-making process of the

Commission/Agency during the award procedure;

(v) attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it

undue advantages in the award procedure;

(d) it has been established by a final judgment that the applicant is guilty of any of the

following:

(i) fraud, within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the

European Parliament and of the Council and Article 1 of the Convention

15 The date when the proposal was last submitted in the TENtec eSubmission module will be considered as

the submission date of the proposal.

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on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests, drawn

up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995;

(ii) corruption, as defined in Article 4(2) of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 or

Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving

officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of

the European Union, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997, or

conduct referred to in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision

2003/568/JHA, or corruption as defined in the applicable law;

(iii) conduct related to a criminal organisation, as referred to in Article 2 of

Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

(iv) money laundering or terrorist financing, within the meaning of Article

1(3), (4) and (5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament

and of the Council;

(v) terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, as defined in

Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA,

respectively, or inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such

offences, as referred to in Article 4 of that Decision;

(vi) child labour or other offences concerning trafficking in human beings as

referred to in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European

Parliament and of the Council;

(e) the applicant has shown significant deficiencies in complying with main

obligations in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision

financed by the Union's budget, which has led to its early termination or to the

application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties, or which has been

discovered following checks, audits or investigations by an authorising officer,

OLAF or the Court of Auditors;

(f) it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the

applicant has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of

Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95;

(g) it has been established by a final judgement or final administrative decision that the

applicant has created an entity in a different jurisdiction with the intent to

circumvent fiscal, social or any other legal obligations of mandatory application in

the jurisdiction of its registered office, central administration or principal place of

business;

(h) it has been established by a final judgement or final administrative decision that an

entity has been created with the intent referred to in point (g);

(i) for the situations referred to in points (c) to (h) above, the applicant is subject to:

(i) facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by

European Public Prosecutor's Office after its establishment, the Court of

Auditors, the European Anti-Fraud Office or the internal auditor, or any

other check, audit or control performed under the responsibility of an

authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU

agency or body;

(ii) non-final judgments or non-final administrative decisions which may

include disciplinary measures taken by the competent supervisory body

responsible for the verification of the application of standards of

professional ethics;

(iii) facts referred to in decisions of persons or entities being entrusted with EU

budget implementation tasks;

(iv) information transmitted by Member States implementing Union funds;

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(v) decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of the Union's

competition law or of a national competent authority relating to the

infringement of Union or national competition law; or

(vi) decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a

European office or of an EU agency or body.

7.2 Remedial measures

If an applicant/affiliated entity declares one of the situations of exclusion listed above

(see section 7.1), it must indicate the measures it has taken to remedy the exclusion

situation, thus demonstrating its reliability. This may include e.g. technical,

organisational and personnel measures to correct the conduct and prevent further

occurrence, compensation of damage or payment of fines or of any taxes or social

security contributions. The relevant documentary evidence which illustrates the remedial

measures taken must be provided in annex to the declaration. This does not apply for

situations referred in point (d) of section 7.1.

7.3 Rejection from the call for proposals

The authorising officer shall not award a grant to an applicant who:

(a) is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with section 7.1; or

(b) has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the

procedure or has failed to supply that information; or

(c) was previously involved in the preparation of documents used in the award

procedure where this entails a breach of the principle of equal treatment, including

distortion of competition, that cannot be remedied otherwise.

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities. Applicants and their affiliated

entities, if applicable, must certify that they are not in one of the situations listed above.

Administrative sanctions (exclusion) may be imposed on applicants, or affiliated entities

where applicable, if any of the declarations or information provided as a condition for

participating in this procedure prove to be false.

7.4 Supporting documents

Applicants and affiliated entities must provide a declaration on their honour certifying

that they are not in one of the situations referred to in Articles 136(1) and 141 FR, by

filling in application form Part B1 (for applicants) or B2 (for affiliated entities)

accompanying the call for proposals and available at under the "Application Forms"

section of the call webpage: https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-

telecom/apply-funding/2019-digital-skills-jobs.

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8. SELECTION CRITERIA

The selection criteria are referred to in Annex 2 of the Work Programme. The financial

and operational capacity of applicants and designated affiliated entities will be assessed

as specified below.

The requirement to demonstrate financial and operational capacity also applies to

designated affiliated entities only where, according to the proposal, the affiliated

entity(ies) will be the only one(s) implementing the proposed Action.

Exceptions: The requirement for applicants to demonstrate their financial and

operational capacity does not apply to Member States, public sector undertakings or

bodies established in the EU/EEA countries (Norway and Iceland), international

organisations, European Economic Interest Groupings (EEIG)16 in which at least one

member is a public sector body, and Joint Undertakings.

Applicants are requested to register in the Participant Register and provide a Participant

Identification Code (PIC, 9-digit number), serving as the unique identifier of their

organisation. More information is available in the guidance on "Rules on Legal Entity

Validation, LEAR appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment17" and in the

instructions indicated in the Application Form Part B template.

8.1 Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity

throughout the duration of the grant and to participate in its funding. The applicants'

financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the supporting documents requested by

the Commission services:

a) Low value grants (≤ EUR 60 000):

a declaration on their honour.

b) Grants > EUR 60 000:

a declaration on their honour, and

the profit and loss account as well as the balance sheet for the last 2 financial

years for which the accounts were closed;

for newly created entities: the business plan might replace the above

documents;

c) Grants for an action > EUR 750 000:

(i) the information and supporting documents mentioned in point b) above, and

(ii) an audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the

accounts for the last 2 financial years available, where such an audit report is

available or whenever a statutory report is required by law.

If the audit report is not available AND a statutory report is not required by

law, a self-declaration signed by the applicant's authorised representative

certifying the validity of its accounts for the last 2 financial years available

must be provided.

In the event of an application grouping several applicants (consortium), the

above thresholds apply to each applicant.

16 Established in line with Council Regulation (EEC) No 2137/85 of 25 July 1985 – the European Economic Interest

Grouping, see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV%3Al26015 17 http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/lev/h2020-rules-lev-lear-fvc_en.pdf

13

More comprehensive information on the documents to submit can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/lev/h2020-rules-

lev-lear-fvc_en.pdf

8.2 Operational capacity

Applicants must have the professional competencies and appropriate qualifications

necessary to complete the proposed Action for which the grant is sought. To assess this

capacity, applicants must provide the following documents:

description of the profiles of the people primarily responsible for managing and

implementing the Action (e.g. accompanied by a curriculum vitae);

the organisation's activity reports for at least the last year;

a list of previous actions and activities carried out in equivalent actions in related

fields

If compliant with the above-mentioned requirements, information submitted by

applicants who have benefited from CEF Telecom support since 2014 may be taken into

account in the evaluation of their operational capacity.

9. AWARD CRITERIA

Proposals will be evaluated against the following award criteria, which are defined in

Annex 2 of the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme. These three criteria are Relevance,

Quality and efficiency of the implementation and Impact and sustainability and are

described below:

Relevance

Alignment with the objectives and activities required for the deployment of the

Digital Service Infrastructure described in Chapter 3 of the Work Programme and

priorities set in section 2 of the call text.

Alignment and synergies with EU long-term policy objectives, relevant policies,

strategies and activities at European and national level.

Quality and efficiency of the implementation

Maturity of the proposed solution (e.g. in terms of contribution towards

interoperability, connectivity, sustainable deployment, operation, upgrading of

trans-European digital service infrastructures, use of common building blocks,

coordination at European level) and/or integration with existing components of

the DSI.

Coherence and effectiveness of the work plan, including appropriateness of the

allocation of tasks and resources.

Quality and relevant experience of the individual participants and, if more than

one beneficiary, of the consortium as a whole (including complementarity,

balance).

Extent to which the proposal demonstrates support from national authorities,

industry and NGOs.

Appropriate attention to security, privacy, inclusiveness and accessibility.

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Impact and sustainability

Quality of the approach to facilitate wider deployment and take-up of the

proposed Actions.

Capability to survive, develop and scale up without European Union funding after

the end of the project with a view to achieving long-term sustainability, where

appropriate through funding sources other than CEF.

A score will be applied to each of the three award criteria on a scale from 0 (insufficient)

to 5 (excellent). The threshold for individual criteria is 3. The overall threshold, applying

to the sum of the three individual scores, is 10. Only proposals with a score on or above

these thresholds (individual and overall) may be recommended for funding.

Ranking list

At the end of the evaluation by independent experts, all evaluated proposals will be

ranked, according to the scores obtained for each of the award criteria as indicated above.

If necessary, a priority order for proposals which have obtained the same score within a

ranked list will be determined. The following approach will be applied successively for

every group of ex aequo proposals18 requiring prioritisation, starting with the highest

scored group, and continuing in descending order:

i. Proposals submitted by organisations established in an eligible country which is

not otherwise covered by more highly-ranked proposals, will be considered to

have the highest priority (geographical coverage).

ii. Proposals identified under (i), if any, will be prioritised according to the scores

they have been awarded for the Relevance criterion. When these scores are equal,

priority will be based on scores for the Impact and Sustainability criterion.

If a distinction still cannot be made, further prioritisation may be done by considering

how to enhance the quality of the project portfolio through synergies between proposals,

or other factors related to the objectives of the call or to the CEF Work Programme in

general. These factors will be documented in the evaluation report.

10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS

In the event of a grant awarded by the Commission, the applicant(s) will be invited by

INEA to sign a grant agreement drawn up in euro and detailing the conditions and level

of CEF funding, as well as the information on the procedure to formalise the agreement

of the parties. The standard model grant agreement, available on the call page, is not

negotiable and will be signed in English.

Submitting an application implies the acceptance of the terms and conditions of the

model grant agreement. Applicants are recommended to carefully read this document and

its annexes before submitting an application.

A coordinator must be designated for multi-beneficiary Actions. The coordinator will be

the contact point for INEA and will have, inter alia, the responsibility for receiving the

18 Proposals with the same overall score

15

payment(s) and coordinating the reporting exercise(s). It is strongly recommended that

beneficiaries sign an internal cooperation agreement regarding their operation and

coordination, including all internal aspects related to the management of the beneficiaries

and the implementation of the Action.

Two copies of the original agreement must be signed first by the beneficiary in case of

mono-beneficiary grants or the coordinator on behalf of the consortium and returned to

INEA immediately.

In accordance with Article 23 of the CEF Regulation, only Actions in conformity with

EU law, in particular in the area of public procurement, and which are in line with the

relevant EU policies in the area of telecommunications infrastructure shall be financed.

11. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

11.1 Form of the grant

Lump sum contributions

The grant shall take the form of lump sum contributions to cover the following activities

and categories of costs. Each lump sum contribution is intended to cover up to 75% of

the overall costs of the activity foreseen. The amount of the lump sum contribution varies

according to the Member State/EEA country in which the beneficiar(y)ies is/are located.

The amounts per Member State/EEA country are listed in section 16 below. They are

structured as follows:

A lump sum contribution of maximum €38,535, adjusted according to an indexation

per Member State/EEA country, to cover website development allowing 2-way data

exchange between national databases and the Core Service Platform (activity 1)

A lump sum contribution of maximum €104,265, adjusted according to an indexation

per Member State/EEA country, to cover services, communication, online content

creation, editorial tasks and community management (activity 2)

A lump sum contribution of maximum €30,030, adjusted according to an indexation

per Member State/EEA country, to cover post-editing and localisation of content

(activity 3)

Therefore the maximum total lump sum contribution is €172,830, adjusted according to

an indexation per Member State/EEA country.

The lump sum contributions will be paid provided the activities concerned were

implemented fully, on time, and with the required quality.

11.2 Payment conditions, checks and audits for lump sums

Contributions based on lump sums will be paid in full provided the Action is

implemented fully, on time, and with the required quality. If any activity described under

point 2.1.1 is not completed or has only been partially completed, the amount allocated to

the activity will not be paid and the amount of the grant will be reduced accordingly.

The fulfilment of the above conditions and/or results triggering the payment of the lump

sum as specified in section 11.1, including where required the achievement of outputs

16

and/or results, will be checked at the latest before the payment of the balance. In

addition, the fulfilment of those conditions and/or results may be subject to ex post

controls.

For this purpose, in case of verifications, checks or audits, the beneficiary will be

required to provide supporting documents proving the proper implementation of the

action.

As the grant takes the form of a lump sum, as specified in section 11.1, the

beneficiary will not be required to report on the costs actually incurred for the

implementation.

The amounts of lump sums as specified in section 11.1 will not be challenged by ex-

post controls. This does not affect the possibility to reduce the grant as specified

above or in the case of irregularity, fraud or a breach of other obligations.

Payment of the grant on the basis of lump sums as specified in section 11.1 does not

affect the right of access to the statutory records of the beneficiaries for the purposes

of:

reviewing them for future grants, or

protecting the Union financial interests, e.g. detection of fraud, irregularities or

breach of obligations.

11.3 Reporting and payment arrangements

Actions will be eligible to receive a pre-financing of up to 60% of the maximum grant

amount awarded that will be made within 30 days after the last party signs the grant

agreement. No interim payment will be made.

The final amount of the grant to be awarded to the beneficiary is established

after completion of the Action, upon approval of the request for payment

including, where applicable, the supporting documents as described in the model grant

agreement.

For a multi-beneficiary grant, the Agency may hold the beneficiaries jointly and severally

liable for any amount due to the Agency by any one of them, including for interest on

late payment if any. The amount to be repaid by the beneficiary held liable shall however

not exceed the maximum amount of the grant.

11.4 Other financial conditions

a) Non-cumulative award

An Action may only receive one grant from the EU budget.

To ensure this, applicants must indicate in the application the sources and amounts

of EU funding received or applied for the same Action or part of the Action, as well

as any other funding received or applied for the same Action.

In this respect, any proposed Action or part(s) thereof that receives or has received

EU funding under the CEF or other EU Programmes (e.g. European Structural and

Investment Funds (ESIF), Horizon 2020, etc.) will not be funded under this call.

17

b) Non- retroactivity

No grant may be awarded retrospectively for Actions already completed.

A grant may be awarded for an Action which has already begun only where the

applicant can demonstrate in the grant application the need to start the Action before

the grant agreement is signed.

In such cases, costs eligible for financing may not have been incurred prior to the

date of submission of the grant application.

c) No-profit

In accordance with Article 192 of the Financial Regulation, grants shall not

have the purpose or effect of producing a profit within the framework of the Action.

Where a profit is made, INEA will be entitled to recover the percentage of

the profit corresponding to the EU contribution to the eligible costs actually

incurred by the beneficiary to carry out the Action.

12. PUBLICITY

12.1 By the beneficiary

Beneficiaries must clearly acknowledge the European Union’s contribution in all

publications or in conjunction with activities for which the grant is used.

In this respect, beneficiaries are required to give prominence to the name and emblem of

the European Commission and the reference to the CEF Programme on all their

publications, posters, programmes and other products realised under the co-financed

project.

12.2 By the Commission

All information relating to grants awarded in the course of a financial year shall be

published on an internet site of the European Union institutions no later than the 30 June

of the year following the financial year in which the grants were awarded.

13. PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA

The reply to any call for proposals involves the recording and processing of personal data

(such as name, address and CV). Such data will be processed pursuant to Regulation

(EU) 2018/172519 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of

personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free

movement of such data. Unless indicated otherwise, the questions and any personal data

19 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of

natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and

agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No

1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39–98).

18

requested that are required to evaluate the application in accordance with the call for

proposal will be processed solely for that purpose by INEA.

Personal data may be registered in the Early Detection and Exclusion System by the

Commission, should the beneficiary be in one of the situations mentioned in Articles 136

and 141 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/104620. For more information see the Privacy

Statement on:

https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-telecom/apply-funding/2019-

digital-skills-jobs.

14. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

Proposals must be submitted by the deadline set out under section 3.

No modification to the application is allowed once the deadline for submission has

elapsed. However, if there is a need to clarify certain aspects or to correct clerical

mistakes, the Commission may contact the applicant during the evaluation process.

Applicants will be informed in writing about the results of the selection process.

All practical information on this call for proposals and the evaluation process is detailed

in the Guide for Applicants. It is available, together with the application forms, model

grant agreement, the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme, and other relevant documents on the

call webpage:

https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-telecom/apply-funding/2019-

digital-skills-jobs.

Applicants are requested to carefully read all call-related documents, including the

detailed instructions given in the Guide for Applicants on how to complete their

applications and other guidance documents and information, in particular the Frequently

Asked Questions (FAQ).

14.1 Application forms

Proposals must be submitted using the application forms provided on the call webpage at

the link above. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their applications in

English.

Proposals must be signed by the applicant(s) or its duly authorized representative and

must be perfectly legible so that there can be no doubt as to words and figures.

The applicant(s) specified in application form part A will automatically be considered as

the beneficiary(ies) if the proposal is selected for funding. If applicants designate

affiliated entities within the meaning of Article 187 of the Financial Regulation to

support the implementation of the submitted Action, information on these affiliated

entities must be encoded in application form part A, and any relevant supporting

documents must be provided.

20 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32018R1046

19

For multi-applicant proposals, a coordinating applicant must be designated.

14.2 Submission process

Proposals must be submitted electronically using the TENtec eSubmission module,

accessible via the following link:

https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-telecom/apply-funding/2019-

digital-skills-jobs.

before the call deadline: 14 November 2019 at 17:00.00 Brussels time (see also section

5 on Admissibility requirements).

Application form part A is automatically generated by the eSubmission module.

Application form parts B, C and D must be downloaded from the call webpage at the link

above and duly completed. Once final, these must be uploaded into the TENtec

eSubmission module. The same applies to any other annexes or supporting documents

accompanying the proposal.

Applicants' attention is drawn to the fact that for application form part A, only the

information encoded in the TENtec eSubmission module will be taken into account for

the evaluation (notwithstanding the requirement to upload signed versions of application

forms part A2.2 and A2.3). For the other forms and documents, only the last version

uploaded in the TENtec eSubmission module will be taken into account for the

evaluation.

Any parts of the application that require signatures of applicants or relevant authorities

must be scanned and uploaded into the TENtec eSubmission module. Applicants must be

able to provide the original documents and send them to the INEA services upon request.

Advanced electronic signatures based on a qualified certificate21 as defined by the eIDAS

Regulation22 and which comply with the signature formats specified in Commission

Implementing Decision 2015/1506 will be accepted. If a document is e-signed, a

printable version of the document must be uploaded in the TENtec eSubmission module.

15. INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS

Further information or clarifications on the call for proposals will be published on the

call webpage. Please refer to all of the following documents, available on the call

webpage, when preparing the application:

2019 – 2020 Work Programme

CEF Regulation

Telecom Guidelines

Application form (Parts A, B, C and D)

Guide for Applicants

21 For a list of trusted certificate providers please see https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/eu-trusted-lists-trust-

service-providers 22 Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic

identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC,

see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2014.257.01.0073.01.ENG

20

FAQs published on the call page

Model grant agreement

Checklist of documents to be provided

EU Financial Regulation

Technical specifications and the API model

Applicants are recommended to consult the webpage and the INEA website/Twitter feed

(@inea_eu) regularly until the deadline for submission of proposals.

Questions related to this call must be addressed to the call helpdesk:

INEA-CEF-Telecom-Calls@ec.europa.eu.

The answers to submitted questions will be published in a FAQ list accessible via the call

webpage, to ensure equal treatment of all potential applicants. Questions related to the

call should be submitted at the latest by 24 October 2019 to ensure sufficient time for the

last update of the FAQs by 7 November 2019. However, individual technical questions

related to TENtec eSubmission module will be treated until the call deadline.

Questions which are specific to a particular proposal and for which the answer would

provide a comparative advantage to the applicant will not be answered.

Please note that proposals must not be sent to the helpdesk e-mail address.

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16. LUMP SUM CONTRIBUTIONS PER MEMBER STATE/EEA COUNTRY

To account for differences in average price and salary levels between Member

States/EEA countries, the lump sum contributions are indexed by the Purchasing Power

Parity (PPP) Index provided by Eurostat at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/purchasing-

power-parities/overview.

The EU28 PPP Index value is 100%. In order to ensure a minimum amount necessary to

implement the Action, and to avoid any over-financing, the indexation applied to a

Member State/EEA Country may not be less than 60% or more than 140%. Therefore the

indexation applied to each Member State/EEA Country is as follows:

Indexation applied to the lump sum contributions

Belgium 110.80%

Bulgaria 60.00%

Czech Republic 68.20%

Denmark 138.90%

Germany 104.00%

Estonia 78.10%

Ireland 127.20%

Greece 85.40%

Spain 92.50%

France 109.50%

Croatia 67.40%

Italy 100.90%

Cyprus 89.50%

Latvia 72.80%

Lithuania 64.50%

Luxembourg 125.90%

Hungary 63.00%

Malta 81.70%

Netherlands 112.10%

Austria 108.60%

Poland 60.00%

Portugal 86.00%

Romania 60.00%

Slovenia 83.80%

Slovakia 69.80%

Finland 122.40%

Sweden 125.50%

UK 116.40%

Iceland 140.00%

Norway 140.00%

EU28 100.00%

22

Consequently, the lump sum contribution amounts per Member State/EEA Country are

as follows:

Lump sum

for Activity 1

Lump sum

for Activity 2

Lump sum

for Activity 3 Total PPP Index

Belgium 30,497.70 € 82,518.30 € 23,766.60 € 136,782.60 € 110.80%

Bulgaria 16,515.00 € 44,685.00 € 12,870.00 € 74,070.00 € 49.60%

Czech Republic 18,772.05 € 50,791.95 € 14,628.90 € 84,192.90 € 68.20%

Denmark 38,232.23 € 103,445.78 € 29,794.05 € 171,472.05 € 138.90%

Germany 28,626.00 € 77,454.00 € 22,308.00 € 128,388.00 € 104.00%

Estonia 21,497.03 € 58,164.98 € 16,752.45 € 96,414.45 € 78.10%

Ireland 35,011.80 € 94,732.20 € 27,284.40 € 157,028.40 € 127.20%

Greece 23,506.35 € 63,601.65 € 18,318.30 € 105,426.30 € 85.40%

Spain 25,460.63 € 68,889.38 € 19,841.25 € 114,191.25 € 92.50%

France 30,139.88 € 81,550.13 € 23,487.75 € 135,177.75 € 109.50%

Croatia 18,551.85 € 50,196.15 € 14,457.30 € 83,205.30 € 67.40%

Italy 27,772.73 € 75,145.28 € 21,643.05 € 124,561.05 € 100.90%

Cyprus 24,634.88 € 66,655.13 € 19,197.75 € 110,487.75 € 89.50%

Latvia 20,038.20 € 54,217.80 € 15,615.60 € 89,871.60 € 72.80%

Lithuania 17,753.63 € 48,036.38 € 13,835.25 € 79,625.25 € 64.50%

Luxembourg 34,653.98 € 93,764.03 € 27,005.55 € 155,423.55 € 125.90%

Hungary 17,340.75 € 46,919.25 € 13,513.50 € 77,773.50 € 63.00%

Malta 22,487.93 € 60,846.08 € 17,524.65 € 100,858.65 € 81.70%

Netherlands 30,855.53 € 83,486.48 € 24,045.45 € 138,387.45 € 112.10%

Austria 29,892.15 € 80,879.85 € 23,294.70 € 134,066.70 € 108.60%

Poland 16,515.00 € 44,685.00 € 12,870.00 € 74,070.00 € 56.70%

Portugal 23,671.50 € 64,048.50 € 18,447.00 € 106,167.00 € 86.00%

Romania 16,515.00 € 44,685.00 € 12,870.00 € 74,070.00 € 52.60%

Slovenia 23,065.95 € 62,410.05 € 17,975.10 € 103,451.10 € 83.80%

Slovakia 19,212.45 € 51,983.55 € 14,972.10 € 86,168.10 € 69.80%

Finland 33,690.60 € 91,157.40 € 26,254.80 € 151,102.80 € 122.40%

Sweden 34,543.88 € 93,466.13 € 26,919.75 € 154,929.75 € 125.50%

UK 32,039.10 € 86,688.90 € 24,967.80 € 143,695.80 € 116.40%

Iceland 38,535.00 € 104,265.00 € 30,030.00 € 172,830.00 € 166.10%

Norway 38,535.00 € 104,265.00 € 30,030.00 € 172,830.00 € 149.50%

EU28 27.525.00 € 74.475.00 € 21.450.00 € 123.450.00 € 100.00%

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17. DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIONAL COALITIONS OR NETWORKS OF ACTORS

For the purposes of this call, a National Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and an

equivalent network of actors are defined as follows:

A National Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and a network of actors from industry, civil

society, training providers, social partners, public authorities who are acting on reducing

the digital skills gap in the country should include among its partners:

a) At least two Government Ministries or public authorities in charge of policies that

contribute to reduce the digital skills gap. For example, the Ministry of Labour,

and/or Ministry of Education, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Technology and any

other public services and agencies with a mandate to improve digital skills.

b) At least one education provider actively involved in this field, such as universities or

training providers.

c) At least three private sector organisations such as industry association(s) and

businesses, which are intensive users of digital technologies.

In addition, a National Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and a network of actors from

industry, civil society, training providers, social partners, public authorities who are

acting on reducing the digital skills gap in the country are encouraged to include among

its partners:

a) Social partners.

b) Digital innovation hubs23 and other actors contributing to the digital transformation

of small and medium enterprises.

c) Cyber security centres24.

d) Civil society organisations active on digital skills.

The list of currently active National Coalitions is available here:

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/national-local-coalitions

23 See the European catalogue of Digital Innovation Hubs: http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/digital-innovation-hubs-

tool 24 See the mapping of cyber security centres in the Cybersecurity Competence Survey

https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-topic/cybersecurity/cybersecurity-competence-survey